CDC: Florida reports 24,869 new COVID-19 cases

Miscommunications over Florida COVID statistics

We’re seeing a lot of conflict this week between the state and federal government over Florida’s COVID-19 stats, and Craig Patrick has figured out what’s causing some of the confusion.

TAMPA, Fla. - The delta variant of the novel coronavirus continues to spread in Florida, mostly through unvaccinated populations, setting new records daily for case numbers and hospitalizations in the state.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's website shows 24,869 new COVID-19 cases were reported by the state of Florida on Wednesday, August 11.

Daily case numbers have been reported a day later than the week prior after the Florida Department of Health claimed the CDC was reporting inaccurate data over the weekend.

In addition to reporting the new daily case numbers for Wednesday, the number of cases reported Tuesday, August 10 changed on the CDC's website – going down from 24,753 to 20,456.

Screenshot of CDC website showing graph of Florida's daily COVID-19 cases

Rising cases usually mean rising hospitalizations, which continues to hold true in the Sunshine State. Thursday hospitalizations set another record.

According to the Department of Health and Human Services, 85.31% of Florida's 59,774 inpatient hospital beds are in use; 26.85% of inpatient beds -- 15,796 -- are being used for COVID-19 patients. HHS reported 15,449 of Florida's hospital beds were used for COVID patients the day before.

According to the HHS website, Florida is the only state in the US with more than 25% of hospital beds in use for COVID-19 patients.

A recent Florida Hospital Association poll of hospitals indicated 68% expect to have staffing shortages in the next week. Additionally, 26% reported that they will have to expand their patient care areas in the next week into parts of their facilities not currently used for care.

Hospitals across the state have been forced to cancel non-emergency surgical procedures, and some facilities have limited visitation as the numbers of people hospitalized with COVID-19 have increased.

The state of Florida stopped reporting daily COVID-19 statistics in June at the direction of Gov. Ron DeSantis. The Florida Department of Health now issues updates once a week, on Fridays. The FHA and CDC continue to publish data on a daily basis, however.

There remains no source of recovered COVID-19 patient data, or reliable statewide information on breakthrough cases.

Editor's note: The number of new cases and deaths reported each day does not necessarily reflect the day that the case was confirmed. Stats for today and previous days will likely change in the future as the state reviews more cases and updates retroactive data.

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LINK: COVID-19 vaccine distribution information in Tampa Bay area counties